1st Edition
Crisis Era European Integration Economic, Political and Social Lessons from Croatia
The year 2023 marked the tenth anniversary of Croatia’s membership of the European Union, the last acceding country to the EU, and thus represents a fitting opportunity to explore the political, economic and social dimensions of this tremendous transformation. This book examines how Croatia has changed over the last ten years and looks at the driving forces as well as the obstacles on its post-accession path of Europeanisation.
The book argues that the Croatian case has special importance given that the last decade of European integration has arguably been the most challenging one yet. It started with the Eurozone-wide sovereign debt crisis and ended with the economic hardship caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s aggression on Ukraine. Such demanding circumstances where agenda was often defined in an ad hoc way posed a huge test for Croatia’s governmental capacity. The book provides answers to the question of how successful Croatian policymakers were in dealing with the crises-related challanges and other needed adaptations. The book explores how EU membership has affected the design and implementation of selected national public policies, the functioning of governing institutions and patterns of cooperation between main social actors. Expert contributors analyse the impact of the EU membership in two principal areas: political and economic, with individual chapters addressing relevant topics.
The book is intended for researchers, academics and students interested in these issues, as well as policymakers, entrepreneurs and lobbyists concerned with European integration.
1. Setting the Scene: Post-accession Europeanisation of the Croatian State and Its Public Policies 2. Impact Of Croatia's EU Membership on the Coordination Patterns within Three Branches of State Power 3. Unlocking Influence: Access and Lobbying Strategies of Croatian Interest Groups in the EU Policymaking 4. Reform of Croatian Public Administration: Challenges, Results, and Role of the EU 5. Rule of Law in the EU and the State of Croatian Judiciary 6. Croatian Foreign Policy between the EU and the United States 7. Media Pluralism and Market Competition in Croatia: Between Expectations and Realities 8. Competitiveness, Convergence, and Innovation: Assessment of Impacts of the First EU Membership Decade 9. Free Movement of People: Implications for Croatian Labour Market 10. From "Troubled" Newcomer to Euro Area Member: Croatian Integration Success under Brussels Surveillance 11. The Transformative Impact of EU Cohesion Policy in Croatia 12. Croatia and the EU Green Agenda 13. Croatian Social Policy under the Impact of the European Union
Biography
Jakša Puljiz is Head of the Department for European Integration at the Institute for Development and International Relations (IRMO), Zagreb, Croatia.
Hrvoje Butković is a senior research associate in the Department for European Integration at the Institute for Development and International Relations (IRMO), Zagreb, Croatia.
“This book reveals the most significant elements of Europeanisation that have occurred in Croatia over the last ten years. As such, it will become a key reference work for scholars in the field.”
Will Bartlett, London School of Economics and Political Science
“Ten years of Croatia in the EU has got a book that rigorously and thoroughly looks at different aspects of institutional and policy responds of Croatian politics to EU membership. A reader will find nicely written chapters and documented analyses of what and how has been changed in comparison to the accession period.”
Goran Čular, Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb
